The Romance Bookie

 Hey Everyone! It's been a minute, and for once it isn't because I haven't been reading!  In fact, I have A LOT of catching up to do!  Like a lot! I have been reading a lot! In fact, every time I finish a book, I just roll right into the next one, instead of updating The Romance Bookie, working on the Bookstagram, or even updating my Always Fully Booked Planner.   So here goes the updating! This review is for Last Chance Books  by Kelsey Rodkey. From Goodreads: Don't you just love the smell of old books in the morning? Madeline Moore does. Books & Moore, the musty bookstore her family has owned for generations, is where she feels most herself. Nothing is going to stop her from coming back after college to take over the store from her beloved aunt. Nothing, that is--until a chain bookstore called Prologue opens across the street and threatens to shut them down.  Madeline sets out to demolish the competition, but Jasper, the guy who works over at Prologue...

 Hey Everyone! So I have some catching up to do!  I went on vacation for the last three weeks, and we only got back on Sunday evening, so I haven't been in front of my computer until now.  We had a great time! We got to experience snow for the first time, like the most beautiful powdery white snow you can imagine during our trip to Raleigh, North Carolina, and then after spending a week there we flew to Florida to celebrate the 50th with Walt Disney World!  It was a lot of firsts for our son, including flying on an airplane, snow, and of course going to Walt Disney World, so it was all very exciting.  Albeit, a little stressful at times, but so worth it!   I am excited to be home again.  Just to have these quiet moments while my son is taking a nap, and being able to catch up on some things, feels nice.  Plus a little space never hurt anyone ;).   Anyway, during my trip I utilized the gyms in our hotel room, and during that alone time, I got ...

 Hey Everyone! Another review coming your way! This one is of a book I found at the library a couple of weeks ago, and it was an absolute cover-read!  The cover caught my attention, and then once I read the inside flap, I knew this sounded like my kind of book! So here's my review of Recommended for You  by Laura Silverman! From Goodreads: To All the Boys I've Loved Before meets You've Got Mail  in this charming and hilarious rom-com following two teen booksellers whose rivalry is taken to the next level as they compete for the top bookseller bonus. Shoshanna Greenberg loves working at Once Upon, her favorite local bookstore. And with her moms fighting at home and beloved car teetering on the brink of death, the store has become a welcome escape. When her boss announces a holiday bonus to the person who sells the most books, Shoshanna sees an opportunity to at least fix her car, if none of her other problems. The only person standing in her way? N...

Hey Everyone! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas (if you celebrate) with loved ones.  Ours was very nice, one of the nicest we've had in a long time.  Our son is old enough now to get more into it, than he did last year (he was only 3 months old last year), and it was such a joy to see him get excited to open presents, enjoy food, listening to Christmas music, and spending time with family.   I ended up reading a quick read the other night, and thought I'd share my thoughts on it. Pumpkin Heads  by Rainbow Rowell, and illustrated by Faith Erin Hicks. From Goodreads: Deja and Josiah are seasonal best friends. Every autumn, all through high school, they've worked together at the best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world.  (Not many people know that the best pumpkin patch in the whole wide world is in Omaha, Nebraska, but it definitely is.) They say good-bye every Halloween, and they're reunited every September 1. But this Halloween is different --Josi...

 Hello Everyone! It's been a minute! I have not been able to read much lately, but finally finished a book!  July was not a good reading month for me, hopefully this month will be a bit better!   I ended up finally finishing Tokyo Ever After  by Emiko Jean yesterday! From Goodreads: Izumi Tanaka has never really felt like she fit in -- it isn't easy being Japanese American in her small, mostly white, Northern California town.  Raised by a single mother, it's always been Izumi --or Izzy, because "It's easier this way" -- and her mom against the world.  But then Izzy discovers a clue to her previously unknown father's identity... and he's none other than the Crown Prince of Japan. Which means outspoken, irreverent Izzy is literally a princess. In a whirlwind, Izzy travels to Japan to meet the father she never knew and discover the county she always dreamed of.  But being a princess isn't all ball gowns and tiaras. There are conniving cousins, a hung...

 Hello! I have been a HUGE fan of Kody Keplinger's since almost the beginning.  I read  The DUFF  back at the beginning of 2011, and absolutely fell in love with that book!  I ended up rereading it almost immediately, and have since read it at least half a dozen times.  The movie adaptation also came out really well!   Since then, I have read every Kody Keplinger book ever released.  So I was really surprised when I realized a few weeks back that I had missed one! Last year's release. Lila and Hadley .  Now to be fair I was pregnant when this one came out last year, we were about to move, and preoccupied with getting everything ready for our son to arrive in a few short months, so I was not reading very much, let alone keeping up with what was being released.  But when I found out about Lila and Hadley , I immediately added it to my Amazon cart, and two days later opened that package greedily.   It was added to my June TBR pile and ...

 Hey Everyone! I finished another book! I'm on a serious roll, and I don't want to lose my momentum!  Three books in April, so far!  That's crazy, unheard of for me, in the last few years.  I'm really excited, to have possibly gotten out of this long a** reading slump I've been on for way too long!  And I finished a NEW Book!  Like from this year!!!  I know crazy, right?! 😄 I finished Crystal Maldonado's debut novel, Fat Chance, Charlie Vega, which came out in February.   From Goodreads: Coming of age as Fat brown girl in a white Connecticut suburb is hard.  Harder when your whole life is on fire, though. Charlie Vega is a lot of things.  Smart. Funny. Artistic. Ambitious. Fat. People sometimes have a problem with that last one.  Especially her mom.  Charlie wants a good relationship with her body, but it's hard, and her mom leaving a billion weight loss shakes on her dresser doesn't help.  The world and everyone in it ha...

Hey Everyone! I'm back again!! Did you miss me? Of course you did! ;)  All three of you reading this... Oh who am I kidding, my mom! "Hi Mom!!" 😄 Just kidding! I hope, to who ever is reading this, that you have had an awesome kick start to your summer!  I know some of you might not have a summer break, because if you're an adult, like me at the almost age of 28, then you probably have work!  Or, if you're an adult, and really like me, you chose to go in the teaching children profession, and therefore you do have a summer break!  Either way, whether you have the summer off or not, I hope you are having a wonderful start to the new season! I just got back from a fun week long road trip with my husband.  We tried to do cross country, but man is it tough being on the road for a week, let alone the three weeks we had originally planned!  We had a great time, and saw some incredible places; but road life is not the life for us!  We got home on S...

Hey Everyone! I found this really great sounding book on Amazon for my new Kindle, and I found myself reading it, and just couldn't get enough of it!  So I finished it! From Goodreads: For Clementine Haas, finding herself is more than a nice idea.  Ever since she woke up in an Irish hospital with complete amnesia, self-discovery has become her mission.  They tell her she's the lone survivor of a plane crash.  They tell her she's lucky to be alive.  But she doesn't feel lucky.  She feels...lost.  With the relentless Irish press bearing down on her, and a father she may not even recognize on his way from America to take her home, Clementine assumes a new identity and enlists a blue-eyed Irish stranger, Kieran O'Connell, to help her escape her forgotten life...and start a new one. Hiding out in a sleepy town of Waterville, Ireland, Clementine discovers there's an upside to a life that's fallen apart.  But as her lies ...

Hey! Wow, two books finished in two days!  It's amazing what you can do when you have no internet to distract you!  Seriously! I honestly, thought I was just going to get this one started, and finishing it after YA'll West! From Goodreads: It's 2002, a year after 9/11.  It's an extremely turbulent time politically, but especially so for someone like Shirin, a sixteen-year-old Muslim girl who's tired of being stereotyped. Shirin is never surprised by how horrible people can be.  She's tired of the rude stares, the degrading comments --even the physical violence -- she endures as a result of her race, her religion, and the hijab she wears every day.  So she's built up protective walls and refuses to let anyone close enough to hurt her.  Instead, she drowns her frustrations in music and spends her afternoons break-dancing with her brother. But then she meets Ocean James.  He's the first person in forever who really seems to want to ge...

Hey Everyone!!! Thanks to Alex over at  A Girl, Books and Other Things  I won a copy of Meg Cabot's Valentine Princess, the one and only book in The Princess Diaries Series  that I had not owned yet...and I hadn't even known that!!!!! Well, any thank you Alex!!!! I loved it!! :) From Goodreads : Valentine's Day means flowers, chocolates, and all-out romance. That is, it usually means those things. But when you're Princess Mia, nothing happens the way it's supposed to. For one thing, Grandmère seems determined to prove   that boy   (or Michael, as he is commonly known) isn't the right one for the crown princess of Genovia. And Mia isn't having much luck proving otherwise, since Michael has a history of being decidedly against any kind of exploitative commercialization (Valentine's Day, as it is commonly known). Boris can declare his love openly to Lilly, and even Kenny comes through with a paltry Whitman's Sampler. So why can't Michael...

Hey Everyone!! :) Over a year ago, I read Katie McGarry's first book in the Pushing the Limits Series ,  Pushing the Limits , and fell absolutely in love with the characters, the writing, the story! Just everything!  I knew right away that I would want to read the other books in the series, as soon as possible!  At the time the second book, Dare You To  was a few days away from being released, and unfortunately I caught up in other books, so by the time I did get the chance to read it, I had almost forgotten about it! I know I suck!  But that's the problem with when you start a series, and the other books aren't available yet!! Anyway, almost a year and a half later...I've finally read the second one in the series, Dare You To ! From Goodreads : Ryan lowers his lips to my ear. "Dance with me, Beth." "No." I whisper the reply. I hate him and I hate myself for wanting him to touch me again.... "I dare you..." If anyone knew the tr...

Hey Everyone!! Kody Keplinger, one of my absolute favorite authors came out with her Middle Grade Debut this year, and I've finally gotten the chance to read it, after I was able to pick it up last Monday at  Maggie Stiefvater Signing ! From Goodreads : Nola Sutton has been best friends and neighbors with the Swift boys for practically her whole life. There’s the youngest, Kevin, who never stops talking; the oldest, Brian, who’s always kind and calm; and then there’s Canaan, the ringleader and Nola’s best-best friend. Nola can’t imagine her life without the Swift boys — they’ll always be like this, always be friends. But then everything changes overnight. When the Swifts’ daddy leaves without even saying good-bye, it completely destroys the boys, and all Nola can do is watch. Kevin stops talking and Brian is never around. Even Canaan is drifting away from Nola — hanging out with the neighborhood bullies instead of her. Nola just wants things to go back to the way they were...

Hey Everyone! It's the last day of Meg-A Readers 2014 already! ;( This is going to be my last review for Meg-A Readers this year, and it's of the last book in The Princess Diaries Series , Forever Princess ! From Goodreads: What's a Princess to do? It's Mia's senior year, and things seem great. She aced her senior project, got accepted to her dream college(s), and has her birthday gala coming up . . . not to mention prom, graduation, and Genovia's first-ever elections. What's not to love about her life? Well . . .Her senior project? It's a romance novel she secretly wrote, and no one wants to publish it.Prince Phillipe's campaign in the Genovian elections isn't going well, thanks to her totally loathsome cousin Rene, who decided to run against him.Her boyfriend, J.P., is so sweet and seemingly perfect. But is he the one? And her first love, Michael, is back from Japan . . . and back in her life. With Genovia's and her own futur...

Hey Everyone! I can't believe Meg-A Readers 2014 is already almost over!! ;( But it's been a fun week, as Meg-A Readers tends to be! :) For Part 2 of Day 6 of Meg-A Readers 2014, I've got my review for Meg's 9th book in The Princess Diaries Series , Princess Mia ! From Goodreads : A princess on her own . . . Mia has been invited to speak at a gala for Domina Rei, an elite society of powerful businesswomen. But what could she possibly have to say? Now that Michael has broken things off, Mia can barely get out of bed, and her parents are making her see a "therapist." School, where Lilly still refuses to speak to her and Lana suddenly wants to be bff, is a total nightmare. Even J.P.'s efforts to cheer Mia up (he's being really sweet ) aren't helping. What's a royal to do? Just when things couldn't get worse, Mia uncovers an old family secret, a long-forgotten diary of a teenage princess of Genovia. It could be just the thing...

Meg-A Readers Week!! Day 4!!! Before I get to my first review of the day, I just want to say... HAPPY MEG CABOT DAY!!!!!!!! Yes, today is seriously Meg Cabot Day!!!! The mayor of Bloomington, Indiana (the hometown of Meg!) pronounced July 31st, Meg Cabot Day!!   Today's first review is of Meg's 6th book in the Princess Diaries Series, Princess in Training ! From Goodreads : Princess for president! Student body president, that is -- nominated by her power-mad best friend, Lilly. This is not how Mia imagined kicking off her sophomore year, but as usual, she has bigger problems to worry about, like Geometry. And now that Mia's one true love, Michael, is uptown at college, what's the point of even getting up for school in the morning? But the last straw is what Lana whispers to her on the lunch line about what college boys expect of their girlfriends. . . . Really, it's almost more than a princess in training can bear! My Thoughts: As most of yo...